need some helpful hints please

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pops1964
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need some helpful hints please

Post by pops1964 »

Hello guys , Iv'e done a ton of litho's on corian same with 3-D carvings . I was just asked to do a memorial plaque for a deaf in the family as a memorial for the family I've never tried to do a portrait on wood, dont have alot of time for test and era. So I could Use all the helpful hints I can get . VERY MUCH APPRECIATED THANK YOU :|
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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by Xxray »

Take a look through this thread http://forum.vectric.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14396 might get some ideas, personally I have never done one.
Doug

pops1964
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Re: need some helpful hints please

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Thanks XRay can use all the help I can get dont want to let the family done . thanks again
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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by martin54 »

How did you get on with this Pops? Haven't seen anything in the gallery from you in wood. I gave it a try at the weekend, used the same picture for all attempts, cut the first one which was pretty rubbish, altered settings & tried again, still rubbish, altered them again & next attempt was probably even worse. Just wondering now if I am trying to put to much detail in for the type of wood I am using.

Have had a read through the post that was linked for you, may try that using v engraving bit but wondered if you had good results from them.

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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by pops1964 »

Martin I did a few and didn't get the results I was looking for. Did a lot more reading and web surfing on it . I use a 30 degree engraving bit . I was using pine for the learning curve . I think that was a mistake , you need a good hard wood with tight grain for best results . With that soft pine I might have been doing better than I thought . I plan on
Trying again soon as winter sets in and I'll be in the shop more. I will post when I get one that's presentable . And let me know if you get good results. Good luck Pop's
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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by martin54 »

I've been using a bit of oak, don't know what the differences are between European & American oak, if there are any but I tested a small 3D vectric model I bought with a few different hardwoods I bought locally & the results in oak were good. Photo carving on the other hand has been very poor but I doubt that is the woods fault lol.
The more detail I tried to achieve the worse the results seemed to be so that was what prompted me to ask if there was a limit to the amount of detail a particular wood could be used for. Been using a 1.5mm ballnose bit but may give the engraving bit a try next.

Just been using the same bit of wood to date, started off about 30mm thick but is getting thinner all the time lol.

If I do manage to get some usable results I will let you know.

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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by pops1964 »

Thanks Martin , ya I dont know the difference between European and American oak . I use alot of oak but I only vcarve it , no 3-D or the lithophane carvings our oak is very grainy and stringy you lose detail with all the grain . Pop's :mrgreen:
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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by martin54 »

This was the model I mentioned Pop's seemed to cut ok to me.
toy block.jpg
toy block.jpg (6.62 KiB) Viewed 2949 times
Sorry meant to say that the split on the left hand side was there before I cut it, just ignored it as this was only a test & I'm to tight to move the starting point further along the bit of wood :D :D :D

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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by pops1964 »

Martin , that looks great , when I tried oak it was with a jumping fish and the other was a elk in the mountains , I think the problem was some detail being smaller than the large grain . And maybe if I would have ran the direction of the grain differently . Pop's :mrgreen:
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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by martin54 »

Pop's don't forget I am in the UK so there is a good chance that European oak & American oak differ in density, I have a sawmill reasonably close to me & have visited them a couple of times, they have been very helpful which is great as I know next to nothing about wood :lol: :lol:

The price of a lot of the stuff they sell scares me but they have a big bin of off cuts which I had a rake about in & found bits of oak, elm, birch, yew & beech at much more affordable prices, I only wanted some small bits to do some tests with but there is enough to do a couple of small projects with as well.

Found a couple of places online that sold exotic woods but the prices seemed to be a bit on the high side for me especially not knowing what would be good for machining & which woods work best for which projects, all stuff I hope to learn at some point.

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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by pops1964 »

Martin , I did a little web surfing and from the articles I read and pictures I have seen your European oak is a tighter grain wood and looks like it would be a lot nicer for carving than ours. I use a lot of oak because of its strength and I like the big grain when it's finished . I make a lot of gun cleaning vise's and custom pistol cases and people always like the oak. I would like to try some European oak someday . Pop's :mrgreen:
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Re: need some helpful hints please

Post by martin54 »

Pop's bit of info on what it's used over here for on the link, unfortunately I haven't tried all the woods they sell yet, think it is pot luck as far as the off cuts bin goes, last time I went up there it was almost empty so someone else must have been in & bought all the decent bits :cry:
In time as I learn more it will probably be worth spending more by buying bigger better boards each specific to what ever project I am working on but for now I will just make do with what I can find :lol: :lol:

http://www.scottishwood.co.uk/hardwoods.htm

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